President Ilham Aliyev: Foreign exchange reserves are our greatest asset

Baku, January 30, AZERTAC “Foreign exchange reserves are our greatest asset. At the same time, it gives us economic independence,” said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at a conference dedicated to the results of fourth year implementation of "The State Program on socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018". “Economic independence, for its part, preconditions political independence. Economically dependent countries can't or find it difficult to pursue an independent policy. We, in turn, are pursuing an absolutely independent policy. We have our own position on all issues and express it with confidence. We speak from international tribunes on all issues of principle, advocate and uphold justice and the rule of law.” “In 2004, our foreign exchange reserves amounted to 1.8 billion dollars. With this figure, we launched our program on large-scale development of the regions. At that time, I knew perfectly well that this program would require major funds. Our financial capabilities were not very broad. We had only 1.8 billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves. Despite this, we allocated large funds for the first regional development program. So this shows once again that the development of the regions of Azerbaijan, the well-being and the standard of living of our rural population have always been a priority for us,” President Ilham Aliyev added.